Untitled
by Litanya
Summary: Taichi left Odaiba as soon as he finished high school and lost contact with everyone bar Hikari. But when he comes back to Odaiba for a visit, his life, as well as the lives of the other digidestined, could be changed forever. Taiora Sorato Takari
1. Chapter 1

Litanya: Firstly and most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPH! This fic is dedicated completely to you =). Thank you for being so supportive of everything I've done over the years (yes, including Friday night lol). Enjoy being 21... It's a lot of fun =).

I don't own Digimon. The title of this fic comes from the song that inspired it, Untitled by Simple Plan, which I don't own either.

_**Untitled**_

_**Chapter One: Homecoming**_

"You know, I've missed this," Hikari looked up at Yamato, who was looking around the room, a small smile on his face. He looked content. She knew the reason why. Around her sat six of her closest friends, half of whom she hadn't seen in a few months. This was the first time in those months that the six of them had been together. She had missed them, and it wasn't hard to make the connection that they all felt the same.

Yamato was not the only one looking around the room with a contented smile. Takeru, Hikari's fiancé and Yamato's younger brother, was grinning, his eyes sparkling. He had missed his brother very much over the past few months- Yamato had been on tour with his band and had only been able to drop by to visit a few times- and so she knew that he was happy now his brother was home.

Mimi and her husband Jyou had been chatting away with their best friend Koushiro for the better part of the afternoon. Koushiro had been very busy travelling around the world, making international ties for his computer company. His company was growing so fast that it made Hikari dizzy whenever he tried to show her the countries he had built offices in.

Sora was the only one who didn't seem to be totally relaxed. Hikari had an idea why. Sora had never really looked at ease with the group for years, ever since Hikari's older brother Taichi had left. Taichi had been Sora's best friend since forever.

Before, whenever the eight friends had met up, they had always split into three groups. Hikari and Takeru were one group, Mimi, Jyou and Koushiro were another and Sora, Taichi and Yamato had made up the other group. But then Yamato and Sora had started dating, and Taichi had started to act a little strangely, distancing himself away from everyone. Sora hadn't noticed until after high school had finished, when Taichi had announced that he was going to be studying overseas. Hikari was the only one who received any letters, e-mails or phone calls from him after he left. That was when Sora started to blame herself for him leaving.

Yamato and Sora had broken up around a year after Taichi had left, and that only seemed to make it worse. When Yamato and Sora had been together, then Sora at least still felt comfortable there. But she and Yamato hadn't exactly broken up on the best of terms, and even though they now got along very well, Hikari knew that Sora would never really feel at ease in the group for a long time. Sora still talked and joked with everyone, it was just that she seemed to feel as though the group wasn't complete, and that it was her fault that it wasn't.

"Yeah, I think we've all missed this," Hikari was pulled out of her thoughts by Koushiro's comment.

"It feels like old times again, you know, when we all used to get together after school and catch up and complain about homework you know," Mimi beamed as if she could see back in time.

"Have you heard from Taichi lately Hikari?" Yamato asked. He knew that Mimi could pretend that this was like when they were back at high school, with them all meeting up, but every time he thought back to that time, it hurt. Taichi had been his best friend throughout high school and Sora had been his girlfriend for the last year of it. Those were some of the best days of his life. He loved his band and his current girlfriend of two years, but he always missed Taichi and Sora at times like this. Yes, he and Sora were back on speaking terms again, but she was always so careful about what she said around him that they would never be as close as best friends again. It really hurt him whenever he thought about it.

"He actually called me the other day. He's going pretty well," Hikari kept it vague.

Taichi had made it pretty clear that he didn't want her to tell everyone about his life, and though she disagreed with his reasons, she had to honour his wishes. Her brother had had a hard time during high school. She still didn't know all of the details, but something had happened to him that had sent him spiralling into depression and he had never been quite the same since. Her parents had never told her what had happened, but she knew that it had been very serious. Yamato, Sora and the others hadn't seemed to notice. Her brother was a very good actor, but Hikari knew that it was the fact that his so-called best friends hadn't noticed his change in behaviour that had made her brother leave.

"Why doesn't he want to talk to us?" Sora asked, her suddenly intense stare aimed at the younger girl. Hikari shifted a little guiltily. It was hard to believe, having been seven years since her brother had left, that this was the first time anyone other than Takeru had asked her that. Takeru knew everything Hikari knew now- he was the only one that Taichi had allowed her to tell everything to.

Hikari jumped as her phone suddenly started to vibrate in her pocket. She wrestled it out of her pocket, smiling apologetically at the others. The timing of the phone call could not have been better as far as she was concerned. It had gotten her out of answering a tough question.

"Sorry, I'm expecting a call from my boss," but even as she said the words, she knew that it wasn't her boss who was calling, "Hello," she said into her phone.

"_Hello this is Toki Sato from Odaiba General Hospital. I'm looking for a Hikari Kamiya. Do I have the right number?" _Hikari froze for a second at the word hospital. Why would they be looking for her? As far as she knew, her brother and niece were in Australia and the only other people she was close to were in the room with her. She decided that it was probably about some left over paperwork from when her grandmother had died the year before, or something like that. They would have called her because her parents were on a round-the-world tour and couldn't be contacted. It wasn't anything she should be worried about.

"Yeah, this is her. What can I help you with?" there was a short pause on the other end. It reminded her a little of the time when she had gotten the call about her grandmother passing away. It sounded like whoever was on the other end was gearing up to give out bad news.

"_I'm really sorry to inform you that your brother Taichi and your niece Tamika have been involved in a car accident. Your niece has sustained only minor injuries and will be released today. Your brother is listed as being in surgery,"_ Hikari didn't really hear anything after the word accident. They must have gotten the wrong person. Taichi was overseas...why would a hospital in Odaiba be calling her about something like this?

"Uh... which hospital are they at?" this comment got her the attention of everyone in the room, who had been having a quiet conversation during the phone call. Takeru immediately could tell that something was wrong, just by how pale his fiancée had become.

"_Odaiba General Hospital,"_ was the steady reply. Hikari shook her head.

"No, no you must have the wrong person. My brother has been overseas for the past seven years. I talked to him two days ago and he was still in Australia. He can't be in Odaiba," but her voice was shaking because she knew that it wasn't impossible for him to have come to Japan. He had mentioned the other day that he would have to come and surprise her with a visit sometime soon. It was quite possible that he had already planned to surprise her with a visit this week. But she really, really didn't want to believe it at this moment.

"_Oh... okay. The Taichi Kamiya we have here is listed to have a younger sister Hikari who is twenty-two, and both his parents, Susumu and Yuuko, are away overseas. Tamika, Taichi's daughter, is five years old and from the information we have here, she was born in Melbourne, Australia. I know that we may have the wrong person, but we got your number directly from Taichi's mobile phone and I'm really sorry about all of this, but we'll need you to come down to the hospital anyway just to make sure," _the hospital receptionist seemed to be very nervous, but Hikari wasn't really paying much attention. All of the information the receptionist had given described her brother. The fact that they had gotten her number off of his phone only seemed to make it concrete. Her brother was in hospital.

"I-I'll be right there," she hung up the phone without realising and stared at it for a few moments.

"Hikari, is everything alright?" Takeru asked her quietly, drawing her attention away from her phone. She stood up suddenly, needing to move. The hospital. She had to get to the hospital, "Hikari?" He was definitely worried.

"You know how Taichi said he'd have to come out here and surprise us one day soon? Well, he must have decided to do that," she was babbling, she knew that she was, but she couldn't seem to stop herself, "We have to go to the hospital. Apparently he and Tami were in an accident and Tami isn't really injured but Taichi's in surgery and I don't know how injured he is because they wouldn't tell me and we really need to go so then we can stay with Tami and... We really need to go!" Takeru was already hurriedly pulling his keys from his pocket, having deciphered the rapid babbling.

"Taichi's in hospital?" Yamato asked, after a beat, having finally realised what Hikari was so upset about. Hikari glanced at him quickly before grabbing her bag and her coat.

"We'll see you guys later. Sorry for rushing out," and before anyone could say anything else, Hikari and Takeru had gone.

* * *

When Hikari and Takeru arrived at the hospital, they were directed to wait while the doctor treating Hikari's niece was paged. Hikari couldn't stop moving. Takeru had made her sit down so she couldn't pace, so instead she played with her fingers until he grabbed her hands. Then she had to settle for jiggling her leg.

"Miss Kamiya?" a young female doctor with long blond hair hanging to her shoulders called from the door to the small waiting area. Hikari jumped up immediately, with Takeru a step behind her. The doctor motioned for them to follow her down a short corridor and they stopped outside of a small room, "I'm Dr. Sasaki. I looked after Tamika when she came in after the accident." The doctor held out her hand.

"I'm Hikari and this is my fiancé Takeru. Is my niece okay?" Hikari shook the doctor's hand, aware that it would be impolite not to.

"Tamika only sustained cuts and bruises in the accident. She was strapped into her child seat correctly and that saved her from serious injury. Whilst she is okay physically however, she appears to be very quiet and withdrawn. Is this normal behaviour for her?" Hikari sighed in relief when she heard that Tami was okay, but she had no idea what Tami's 'normal' behaviour was.

Hikari had never actually met her niece in person. Taichi had been so busy trying to finish university and find a job to support Tami that he had never really had time to come back to Japan, and Hikari had never been able to afford to go over to Australia and see them. Her parents had gone over a couple of times, and she had been planning to go with them one day, but she had had university and work both times her parents had managed to get tickets. She had felt really bad about not visiting him, so she had made sure that they stayed in close contact via the phone. She had talked to Tami practically once a week since Tami had turned three, but she was in no position to guess at what Tami's normal behaviour was.

"I've never actually seen Tami in person... my brother has lived in Australia for the past seven years and I wasn't able to get to visit him for various reasons. He told me a couple of days ago that one of these days he was going to fly back home and surprise me but I didn't know that he was planning to come out here now... Can I see Tami now? Maybe she is just nervous around strangers or something?" She felt Takeru squeeze her hand and she had never been so happy to have him standing beside her. She knew that if the worst happened she could count on him to help her through this.

"Alright, she's just in here. She's been very quiet. We're not really sure whether it is because as strangers we are scaring her or if she has been traumatised due to the accident. It was a fairly serious accident and according to the paramedics she was calling out for her father when they arrived. He was unconscious at the scene and so was unable to answer her. That is extremely distressing for a child and so it is very likely that her withdrawn state is a way that her mind is trying to protect her from what is happening," Dr. Sasaki paused as Hikari seemed to lose the little colour she had maintained.

"Taichi... my brother. Do you know how my brother is?" hearing that he had been unconscious and unable to respond to Tami had reminded her that her brother was seriously injured. Takeru put his spare hand on her elbow, as if ready to grab her if she lost her balance. She had to admit that that was definitely a possibility.

"I'm sorry but I don't have the details. I do know that he is in surgery but other than that I have no news on his condition. I will get his doctor to come here with any news as soon as he can. You and Tamika can stay here until we have news for you and then I will check Tami out before signing her out. If you have any questions just ask someone at the desk to page me and I will come as soon as possible," Hikari forced herself to take a deep breath and forced a weak smile.

"Thank you for your help," Dr. Sasaki nodded once before she turned and left down the corridor. She didn't want to interrupt the family reunion. Hikari closed her eyes for a second before opening the door.

The room was painted white, like most hospitals, but there were a few pictures of cartoon animals on the wall. Hikari guessed that this room was one that children were brought into to try to keep them calm. There were two beds in the room, but one lay unoccupied, the covers undisturbed. The girl that Hikari guessed had to be Tami was lying on the bed closest to the window. Hikari was torn between emotions. She was really happy that she finally got to meet her niece, but she really wished that it could have been under different circumstances. She was worried about Taichi and she was also curious as to why they had been in Odaiba. In short, she was feeling way too many different emotions and she wished fervently that she could turn back time and stop the accident from happening.

Tami looked tiny on the bed. She had long, straight brown hair which seemed almost red in the light from the window. She was facing the window so Hikari couldn't see her face, but her skin was deeply tanned and freckles were spotted all over her arms. There was a particularly red looking area on her left arm which Hikari assumed was from the crash. It would probably turn into a deep bruise. The little girl didn't seem to notice their entrance.

"Tami?" at the sound of her name the girl whirled around, her hazel eyes wide with surprise.

"Aunty 'Kari! Uncle 'Keru!" Tami flung herself off the bed and raced to her aunt, her arms wide. Hikari barely had time to open her own arms before the girl wrapped her in an overly-enthusiastic hug that almost knocked her over. Hikari tightened her arms around Tami and closed her eyes, overcome by the conflicting emotions she was feeling. Tami pulled away after a few minutes and opened her arms towards Takeru, who obediently accepted the little girl's hug.

"How are you feeling Tam-Tam?" he asked, noticing that his fiancée needed a minute or two before she could speak.

Tami surprised him by burying her head in between his shoulder and his neck, her shoulders shuddering. A few seconds later he could feel her tears. He carefully wrapped his arms around her and stood up slowly until he was carrying her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and continued to cry, her tears almost silent. He felt a little helpless. Two of the most important females in his life were really upset and there was nothing he could do to fix it. He bowed his head so that his forehead was touching the top of Tami's head and closed his eyes.

"It's going to be okay Tami. Shh... It'll be okay," he knew better than to promise the girl that Taichi would be fine. He had no idea how severe his future brother-in-law's injuries were and things could go wrong. He didn't want the first thing he said to his future niece in person to be a lie. Hikari finally seemed to snap out of whatever gloom her thoughts had fallen into. She straightened and watched Takeru comfort Tami for a moment before reaching over to stroke Tami's hair. Her mother had done that whenever she had been upset as a young girl, and she knew that it was very calming. Tami's tears seemed to be slowing down and her breathing was evening out as though she was about to fall asleep.

"Are you alright to hold her for a little while longer?" Hikari asked Takeru, knowing that he hadn't had much experience with holding young children. He opened his eyes and lifted his head. She could see the tears in his eyes as surely as she knew that there were tears in her own.

"I'll be fine. When she's asleep I'll put her on the bed. How are you holding up?" the concern for her in his voice almost made the tears in her eyes fall. She was so lucky that she had such a great fiancé. He really understood her.

"I just want to know that Taichi is going to be okay. Or, better yet, I want someone to jump through the door laughing, telling me that this is all one big joke. I mean, Taichi has had a hard enough time as it is, without this happening. He just wanted to come home for a visit and he has to be in an accident? Doesn't that sound just a little unfair to you? Why couldn't this have happened to someone who deserved to be hurt, instead of my brother? Taichi hasn't done anything to anyone and yet he always ends up hurt. I just want him to be okay and for something to go right for him for once!" she put her head on the shoulder Tami wasn't occupying and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Tami had fallen quiet now except for her deep breathing, signifying that she was asleep, but Takeru didn't want to put her down. Instead he moved so that he was sitting on the edge of Tami's bed, with Tami in his lap and Hikari on his right.

"It'll be okay Hikari. I know this is really unfair, but we'll get through this. We have to believe that," she didn't reply, but she reached out and stroked Tami's hair as they continued to wait for word on Taichi's condition.

To be continued...

Litanya: I must confess that I haven't written in a long time before recently, so I hope this flows and makes sense. I hope you enjoyed it and happy birthday again Steph. Thanks for being a great friend over these long years. Friday was really fun and I hope you had a great night. I will hopefully post the next chapter soon =)


	2. Chapter 2

Litanya: Hi... firstly I'm sorry this is so late. It was a combination of having not written a fic in ages, cleaning my room, work and catching up with friends. Hopefully the next chapter won't take me so long. Secondly, thank you so much for all of the lovely reviews I received. I hope that this chapter is enjoyable to read. Thirdly, this fic is still dedicated to Steph for her (now-long-gone) birthday =). Anyway, I don't own Digimon and here's the chapter!

_**Untitled**_

_**Chapter Two:**_

Jyou Kido loved being a doctor. Okay, so maybe he hated the sight of blood and gore hanging out of people, but he felt that the joy and satisfaction of saving someone's life more than made up for the horrible things he had seen during his years at medical school, and now as a doctor. He loved his job. He had to admit that the hours weren't all that great though, as he logged into his work at eight o'clock that night. As he was relatively new to the hospital and being a fully-fledged doctor, he had to settle for working the night shift. The hours sucked and it annoyed him that he couldn't spend many evenings with his wife, but until he had been at the hospital for a few years, he wouldn't be able to change it.

He grabbed a file off the receptionist's desk and he was about to open it and begin reading when he saw a familiar blonde standing in front of the vending machine. Seeing as he was ten minutes early for his shift and so wasn't expected to see any patients yet, he decided that he would make sure that everything was alright with his friend.

"Hey Takeru," the blonde jumped as Jyou's hand landed on his shoulder. He turned to face Jyou and the doctor was concerned to see that Takeru looked a little stressed.

"Jyou... oh I forgot that you worked here," there was something off about the blonde's voice as well, as though he was a little lost. Jyou frowned at that.

Takeru and Hikari had left their gathering of friends relatively quickly and unexpectedly that afternoon. After they had left there had been a small debate about whether or not the others should follow them to make sure that they were alright. Yamato had made the point though that if Takeru and Hikari had wanted them to know what was wrong, then they would have told them. Jyou was fairly certain, by the conversation Hikari had had on the phone that something had happened to Taichi. That had made him agree with Yamato to keep from following them. Looking at Takeru now though made him think that he shouldn't have been so quick to agree.

"Yes I just started my shift. Is everything alright? You and Hikari seemed in a bit of a hurry to leave before," Jyou didn't want to pry, but he wanted to help. His two friends were good people and he hated seeing them upset. He also hoped that Taichi was alright, if he had indeed been in an accident.

Taichi and Jyou had always had a weird relationship, with the younger Taichi respecting Jyou because he was older and more responsible, whilst Jyou admired the way that Taichi could befriend everyone around him with seemingly no effort and also Taichi's leadership abilities. Other than mutual respect, they didn't really have anything in common. Taichi was much more laidback than Jyou, and their talents lay in completely different areas. When Taichi had left, Jyou had been a little upset that Taichi never wrote to him, but at the same time it didn't surprise him too much. He had known that something was off with his friend for a short while before he had left, but he had done nothing about it. He knew that he didn't really deserve Taichi's friendship.

Takeru hesitated before he answered Jyou.

"I guess we did rush out a bit fast. We er... we received some bad news, as you probably figured out. Hikari isn't really dealing with it well, but I'm still hopeful that everything will be alright," he smiled tightly, but the worried look in his eyes didn't leave.

Jyou was about to ask if there was anything he could do, when a small blob rushed past him and appeared to attach itself to Takeru's legs. The blonde raised an eyebrow.

"I see you have been let loose on the world again Tam-Tam," he said with a small smile as he bent to remove the blob- which actually turned out to be a young girl- from his legs. The girl looked as though she was going to say something, but then she noticed how close Jyou was standing. She blinked at him once before slowly trying to hide herself behind Takeru.

"Jyou, what are you doing here?" he turned to Hikari, who was holding a small pink backpack in one hand. Hikari's eyes were rimmed in red.

"I work here. My shift starts properly in about five minutes or so," he noticed that the young girl had poked her head around Takeru's legs when she had heard his name. She was now considering him with a small frown, as though she was trying to piece him together.

"You're Jyou?" the little girl asked curiously, "Daddy says that you're really smart and help fix people when they get hurted." Jyou blinked. If he was right, then this little girl was Taichi's daughter, and if so, he was surprised that he had been mentioned to her. Hikari also looked a little surprised.

"Jyou, this is Tamika, my niece. As you've probably figured out Taichi and Tami were in an accident and Taichi is pretty seriously hurt," Hikari said after a seconds pause. Jyou nodded and pushed his glasses back up his nose for lack of knowing what else to do with his hands. He didn't really know what to do around kids. They made him a little nervous. Tami solved that problem. She emerged from behind Takeru and wordlessly held her arms up towards him. He blinked and hesitated for a second before bending down to pick her up.

"You fix hurted people, right?" she mumbled into his shoulder as he gave her a hug.

"Yeah I try to. That's what we doctors do," he told her softly, having the feeling that the little girl didn't want Hikari and Takeru to hear what they were saying.

"Can you fix my daddy then? He's hurted and Aunty 'Kari was talking to a scary doctor who was saying something about Daddy's head and how it's messed up and stuff. He made Aunty 'Kari cry and Uncle 'Keru looked like he was going to cry too. I don't like it when people cry," Jyou felt his heart melt. This little girl was so sad and confused and all he wanted to do was help her. But he couldn't 'fix' Taichi as a doctor- it was unethical.

"I'll try to help fix your daddy anyway I can, but the 'scary doctor' is going to have to help him more than I can here, okay?" he put her down and she gave a small nod before she turned to latch onto Hikari's hand. Takeru motioned with his head for Jyou to follow him, whilst Hikari distracted Tami with the small pink backpack. They walked a little bit down the hallway before stopping. Takeru sighed and seemed to visibly deflate a little bit. Jyou just waited patiently for him to speak.

"I'm sorry about all the secrecy and everything that has been going on. Taichi told us that he didn't really want anyone to know about his life and we couldn't really disrespect his wishes. He had his reasons I guess, but he never really explained it to me. I think he tried to explain it to Hikari, but... Anyway would you be able to keep this a bit of a secret until we have talked to Taichi... if we can even talk to him anytime soon?" Takeru sounded so frustrated that Jyou didn't hesitate to agree.

"Of course I will. What kind of injuries does Taichi have anyway? Maybe I can help explain what to expect if you didn't really understand what the other doctor meant," he kind of tacked the last part on the end to make it sound like he wasn't being nosy, but he knew that Takeru saw through it. The blonde sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"The doctor said something about a head injury and swelling of the brain I think. He said that it was likely that Taichi will find it difficult to talk when he wakes up, and it is also possible that he'll have weakness down the left side of his body, but they don't know how severe either of these symptoms will be," Jyou nodded slowly, his mind rapidly searching through the various disorders that he had learnt during med school.

"Those sound like symptoms of Broca's aphasia. With the help of a speech therapist, a neuropsychologist and physiotherapy those symptoms will probably clear up over time if they are due to swelling," Takeru looked a little relieved. He had been worried that the condition was permanent. The neurosurgeon who had come to talk to them hadn't really mentioned recovery time, or if he had, then Takeru had been too shocked to pay any attention.

"So he'll be okay in the long run?" he asked hopefully. Jyou smiled.

"He should be. There is a chance that some of the symptoms won't go away, but in most cases the patients get better in the long run. They may occasionally have problems, but Taichi is relatively young and I doubt that he will have too many complications. Did he have any other injuries?"

"I think that he had some bruised ribs... but the main injury was to his head. The airbags in his rental car didn't work and so his head slammed into the wheel. From what I gather, most of his other injuries are just bruises. It's a miracle really that Tami escaped the crash relatively uninjured. From what I can tell, it was a really bad accident. Several people were hospitalised and I think that someone died," Jyou's pager chose to beep at that moment, ending the conversation. He took a quick look down at the small device before looking apologetically at Takeru.

"I'm sorry but I have to go now. If you need anything at all, get the receptionist or one of the nurses to page me and I'll come as soon as I can. I'll pop back to visit you at the end of my shift- that coincides with the start of visiting hours. I'm assuming that the three of you will be here then?"

"Yeah it would be good to see you in the morning. The other doctor said that due to the anaesthetic and sedatives they have given Taichi, he probably won't wake up till tomorrow so we're going to go home now and get Tami to sleep. Have a good night," Jyou nodded before rushing off after another quick glance at his pager. Takeru sighed before heading back to Hikari and Tami. Even though it was barely eight o'clock, he just wanted to sleep. It had been a long day.

* * *

Sora sighed and changed the channel on her TV for what had to be the hundredth time in five minutes. She knew that the TV wasn't the problem though- there were at least two shows that she would have stopped to watch if it was any other day- but she just couldn't concentrate. Her mind kept on drifting back to earlier that afternoon. It hurt to know that Taichi was hurt, but it hurt even more to know that he was hurt and didn't want her to know about it.

It was obvious. Hikari and Takeru weren't the best at hiding their feelings and when they had left it was clear that something bad had happened to Taichi. It was so obvious that Yamato had picked up on it, and in Sora's opinion the blonde musician was one of the densest people in the universe. (Okay, so she knew that that wasn't entirely true, but if she was honest she was still mad at him for the way he had handled everything with Taichi and their break-up as well, so it suited her to think of him as being dense.) But Hikari had left without even bothering to tell them what had happened. Okay, so she might have been in shock, but really, they were Taichi's best friends...or at least they had been.

She admitted that she hadn't exactly been the nicest or the most supportive person during the last couple of years at high school. She had been so consumed with her own problems- which at the time had seemed impossible to solve but now seemed really immature- that she had forgotten to look out for the people close to her. She had known instinctively that something had been bothering Taichi, but she had felt that it was probably something insignificant and much less important than her own problems. She hated herself when she looked back to those high school years. She had ignored her best friend's depression for stupid things like looking good for her boyfriend and other immature and selfish worries. She had been such a bitch.

She really hoped that she had changed since then. She hadn't forgiven herself though, and it made her uncomfortable to be around Hikari and the others because it reminded her how bad of a person she had been. She threw herself into her work- she taught the first grade at a local primary school now- and tried to avoid social gatherings. Mimi wouldn't let her hide too much however- the fashion designer knew how Sora thought, and tried to get her to join in the social gatherings as much as possible. It was only due to Mimi's begging that Sora had attended the gathering that afternoon.

"Sora if you don't stick to one channel I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you," Sora jumped as her flatmate's voice rang out from just behind her. Her flatmate, Melissa- who happened to be Yamato's girlfriend as well (which was really quite awkward at times, but luckily he hardly ever came to see Melissa at their flat) was watching her warily from behind the couch. Sora sighed before switching to a random channel and tossing the remote onto the other side of the couch.

"I'm sorry... I'm just a little distracted I guess. I can't really concentrate on anything," she picked at a loose thread on the couch and avoided Melissa's eyes. The other girl was way too good at reading people.

"Has this got anything to do with why Yama is upset? The friend of yours who moved away that might have been in an accident?" Sora shrugged. Of course Melissa would know about this already. She had been on the phone to Yamato when Sora had gotten home, now that she thought about it.

"We don't know for sure that he was in an accident. His sister didn't tell us anything, but from the conversation we heard I'd say that he is in hospital," she really didn't want to talk about this. She didn't even want to think about it. Every time she thought about it, images of Taichi with various horrific injuries invaded her mind. Melissa came around the couch and perched on the edge.

"I'm sure that he will be okay. Hikari would have told you if he wasn't at the very least. I get the feeling that there is something else bothering you. You're really upset that he hasn't contacted you since he left, aren't you?" Sora decided that if she was going to talk to anyone at the moment, it might as well be Melissa. Mimi was good to talk to, but she was too close to this. It was the same with Yamato. She felt that she couldn't talk to the two of them about this because it was her fault that he left. If she had just talked to him about what was going on, or just noticed his behaviour a little earlier... well, he might still have been there with her.

"I'm not really surprised he didn't contact me. I wouldn't have contacted me if I were him. I was supposed to be his best friend and I didn't act like I cared about him at all. I basically ignored him for two years... but it still upset me that he has ignored me for so long. Even though I know that I don't deserve to be able to talk to him again, I still want to be his friend. If I could change the way I acted back then I would in a second, but I can't. I know that Yama feels guilty about this too, but it was different for him. He and Taichi had a very... complicated relationship. They were like best friends and brothers and enemies all wrapped up in one. They hated each other when they first met. Taichi and I were friends from the word go, as soon as we met. We'd always been together and we did everything together... but then I treated him like crap and now he could be dying and he'll never know how much I care about him," the words were pouring out of her mouth and she was unable to stop them. She felt like she had kept these thoughts to herself for so long that they needed to come out.

"We are our own worst enemies sometimes," Melissa started hesitatingly, "We have a somewhat distorted view of ourselves, so if something good happens, we believe that we caused it, but if something bad happens and we believe that it was our fault... then we take on more blame than we really should. What I mean is that maybe there was something else going on in the background, something else that was going on in his life that made him want to leave Japan and everyone here behind. He couldn't really stop talking to his sister, and so I guess by extension Takeru, but maybe he just couldn't handle whatever else was going on here and just wanted to escape. You may have had a part in it, but I think that there is more going on here than what either you or Yama know. To tell the truth I don't think Hikari knows everything either. I know that she is trying to understand her brother, but I know that she is finding it quite difficult at times. But you're mulling over more than just your part in his leaving, aren't you? There's something else worrying you." Sora felt herself blushing and hated herself for it. She didn't want Melissa to know the next bit.

"I uh... well... Hikari told Takeru that Taichi and Tami had been in an accident and... I'm wondering about who exactly Tami is," she confessed, refusing to look up from the couch. She could almost feel Melissa laughing inwardly at her. When she finally risked a glance up, she could see Melissa struggling not to laugh. She wondered why exactly it was so funny, but she didn't say anything.

"How exactly do you feel about Taichi?" Melissa asked once she had gotten herself under control. Sora shrugged.

"I-I don't really know. I miss him so much. He was always just there- he was pretty much always by my side for my whole life until the end of high school... and then he disappeared and it hurt so much that I could barely stand it. I just want him back. I know that he's probably changed a lot by now, but I would like to think that I've changed for the better and I just... I just want to know him again, if you know what I mean," she wished that she could say exactly how she felt, but it was so hard to know how she did feel. Taichi was never far from her mind, and she was confused about how strongly she felt for him. He had been her best friend for years, so it was only natural that she missed him, but she didn't really think that people were supposed to miss their best friends as much as she missed Taichi.

She had sometimes pictured what his life was like overseas. Whenever she pictured him with another woman, it hurt and even though the woman was purely an object of her imagination, she hated her. She supposed that she was jealous, but she wasn't really sure why. It confused her because she didn't know whether it was just because she missed being close to Taichi or if she was in love with him.

"I think that you should try to see him, when he is allowed visitors, if he is indeed in hospital. This sounds like something you need to work out with him, or at least whilst you are in contact with him. If you know where he is, then maybe you should go to him before he leaves again. Maybe not straight away, if he is injured, but I'm sure that you could find out through the hospital when you can go visit," Melissa watched Sora for a moment, then seemed to see something she liked. She stood up and grabbed her bag off the floor next to the couch. Sora hadn't noticed that she had had it with her.

"Are you going to Yama's?" Melissa shook her head.

"Nah, I think that he needs some time to think things through. I have someone else I need to see though. Please think about what I've said. I know that you'll do the right thing. I'll see you later, alright? Don't think too hard," and with that she left the apartment, tossing a wave over her shoulder. Once the door shut behind her, Sora groaned and fell so she could bury her face in the couch. When had her life gotten so complicated? What happened to the biggest problem being cooties? She supposed Melissa was right though. To sort this out, she was going to have to face Taichi...

To be continued

Litanya: Well, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Once again, I'm sorry that it took so long. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. Have a good day/night/afternoon and drop a review if you want =). They are very much appreciated =).


	3. Chapter 3

Litanya: I think that I forgot to mention this in the first couple of chapters, but the digital world didn't happen in this fic, so it is an AU. I was debating for the first couple of chapters whether to include it or not, but I just don't think it'll fit in. I'm really not good at writing the Digimon- whenever I watched the show I admittedly concentrated on the characters of the kids and although I love Agumon and Gomamon and Gabumon, I don't really feel confident writing their characters. Anyway I am sorry for the late update.

This chapter is dedicated to Steph again, as well as everyone who has reviewed. I appreciate you all for your support =).

_**Untitled**_

_**Chapter 3**_

Koushiro Izumi had always been a genius. He took pride in his abilities to figure out the most difficult problems, problems that only the most intelligent of people could solve. He could solve Math problems that spanned ten pages in less than half an hour. He had proven to be one of the best in his field of computer science by inventing faster and smaller computers, as well as inventing new software that stopped viruses completely. His company ran smoothly and was quickly spreading around the world. He had certificates and trophies proclaiming his genius in many areas, and yet he had never felt as stupid as he felt now.

He knew he was a genius- but that genius stopped when it came to human relations. He wasn't the best at friendships. When he had first befriended Mimi and Jyou, the two people he considered as his best friends, he had acted awkward and shy around them for the first few months he had known them. Even after those months he had forgotten to call them in the school holidays, the thought of keeping in communication with his friends with any method other than e-mail or instant messaging just never occurred to him. His whole life was his laptop and textbooks- he just didn't know how to deal with humans.

But Jyou and Mimi hadn't given up. They made sure to call him or visit him every day and they always made sure to keep him in the loop. Being as naive about relationships as he was though, he thought that Mimi and Jyou were just abnormal. He had never had friends who had gone out of their way to include him before, so he wasn't really expecting the same thing to happen with anyone else. He was happy enough with his two best friends including him, so he reasoned that it wouldn't matter if no one else tried to befriend him.

That was when he met Taichi. Whilst Mimi had been in one of his classes and had befriended him that way, Taichi was in the year above and so they had shared no classes. He had been sitting with Mimi and Jyou during lunch when Taichi had suddenly appeared. He had introduced himself with a big grin before asking if he could sit with them. Koushiro remembered staring at this strange boy who looked like he had nothing in common with the three of them in shock. Taichi hadn't known who they were, and yet he was talking to them as though they were great friends. At the end of the lunch period he had waved at them, promising to sit with them again, before rushing off to class.

He had sat with them again as well, although it only occurred sporadically for the first few weeks. Koushiro found himself enjoying his company, and he tried really hard to be a good friend. But he really didn't understand how to be a good friend- that is the reason he lost touch with Taichi. He had known that something was seriously wrong with his friend, but he had no idea how to go about solving it. He had treated it as though he would treat a difficult Math problem, but nothing added up. By the time he tried to talk to Taichi, it was too late.

"It's time for your daily morning meeting," he was embarrassed to admit that he actually jumped when his receptionist spoke. He was about to reply when a thought occurred to him. If Taichi was indeed injured- or even if he wasn't- Koushiro's friends would need him to be reliable, to be there if they needed to talk. If he was working, then he was always too busy to listen.

"I'm really sorry to do this to you, but I need to take the next week or so off, starting right now," his secretary stared at him as though he had grown another head.

"You-you want to... to take time off?" she stumbled through the question as though the whole idea of him taking time off was an oxymoron. He frowned at himself as he realised that he didn't even know the poor girl's name, just that she had been fantastic at her job since he had hired her.

"Yes. One of my oldest friends has been in an accident and I've been way too busy to fit him into my schedule before. I intend to remedy that. I do not want him to believe that he cannot trust me anymore. I will do whatever it takes to earn his trust back. In the meantime, please look after the company. I know that you are more than capable of helping out, despite the fact that you have no qualifications yet. I'll double your pay for at least the time that I am away. If there are any major problems, let me know," the poor girl was staring at him like he had just revealed the true meaning of life.

"T-Thank you Mr. Izumi... I... I will do my best to look after everything for you," he smiled at her and quickly packed up his laptop. He really did need to learn her name, "And my name is Hitomi." His smile grew wider. He knew that she would do just fine. He wouldn't have to worry.

"And my name is Koushiro. Thank you for agreeing. I really am sorry for dumping this on you all at once, but I've been neglecting people in my life that I really shouldn't, due to work. I promise to be back as soon as I can, but in the mean time I know you'll do a great job," Hitomi smiled a little nervously, her cheeks turning beet red.

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity," he grabbed his laptop and headed for the door. He was no good at relationships, but he was willing to try anything to keep his friends.

***********

Takeru was exhausted. It wasn't so much a physical exhaustion, but more of the mental kind. After leaving the hospital they had gone back to the apartment he and Hikari shared. It had taken fifteen minutes to convince Tamika to get into their car before they had managed to leave the hospital, so by the time they managed to get home, they were all quiet. Hikari had gone straight to the kitchen to make them dinner, as the three of them hadn't eaten for hours. Tami had barely said a word, going from being friendly and energetic to looking tired and withdrawn. She had barely eaten anything when they had placed food before her, instead preferring to push it around her plate.

Hikari hadn't been much better. During the ride home she had withdrawn almost completely into herself. Takeru knew that the events of the afternoon were catching up with her and that she probably just needed time, but he hated seeing her like this. He hoped that when they went to see Taichi they would get some good news so she could stop worrying so much and open up a little.

Takeru had tried to keep up a conversation with the two of them, but he hadn't been very successful. He had finally given up, his own worry for Taichi and the whole situation plaguing his mind. He had done the dishes quickly whilst Hikari helped Tami get ready to sleep- the police had managed to salvage some of Tami and Taichi's belongings and had sent them to the hospital- and then they had all gone to sleep, with Tami in between Takeru and Hikari.

To say that they had all had a good night's sleep would be a severe understatement. Takeru had been unable to sleep for a while, worrying about what was going on, and then when he had finally managed to drift off to sleep, Tami had woken him. The poor girl had had several nightmares during the night, and every time she woke she would wake both Hikari and Takeru. She would bury her face into one of their shoulders and burst into tears, calling out for her dad. Hikari held the girl quietly, kissing her hair and muttering the occasional comment into her ear. Takeru hated to see the girl crying, so he would hold her and try to cheer her up with stories. Neither method worked all that well.

Takeru was pulled out of his musings by a knock on the door. Hikari was making sure that Tami had everything she needed to get changed and get ready for the day, so Takeru knew that he would have to deal with whoever was at the door.

"Hi Takeru," Yamato greeted his younger brother with a nod. Takeru sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He had expected this, but had hoped that it wouldn't happen. As much as he loved his brother, he was just too tired to deal with him.

"Yama... Look I'm really sorry but this is a really-"

"Uncle 'Keru Aunty 'Kari just said that we can go see Daddy today. Is that true?" the little girl who had been cried and been withdrawn for most of the night now looked as though she had slept for a week. She bounded through the living room to where he stood at the front door and started tugging on his arm, vying for his attention.

Yamato stared at the young girl for a few moments, his eyes wide. He recovered from his shock slowly and Takeru knew that his brother was trying to work everything out. Takeru sighed and picked Tami up before gesturing for his brother to follow them into the living room. Tami hadn't noticed Yamato before, and she peered at him curiously over Takeru's shoulder.

"Are you Uncle Yama? Coz you look a lot like Uncle 'Keru and Daddy told me that Uncle Yama looked like Uncle 'Keru coz they were brothers and you look like Uncle 'Keru and like the photos Daddy showed me so I think that you must be Uncle Yama," Takeru was amazed that the girl hadn't needed to stop to take a breath somewhere. She was definitely in a livelier mood now that she had been told they were going to visit her father.

"Uh... yes I guess I am. And who would you be?" Yamato looked as though he had seen a ghost. His eyes were wide and his normally pale skin seemed to have gotten a little paler since he had first seen the little girl. Although his voice didn't show it, Takeru was sure that his brother had been shocked to the core to see Tami.

"My name is Tamika Kamiya," the girl said simply, as though she didn't understand that he didn't already know it, "Now are we going to go see Daddy?" She squirmed a little impatiently in Takeru's grip and he gently put her back down. Hikari came into the room, carrying Tami's small backpack.

"Oh... I'm sorry Yama. I didn't realise you were here," she apologised. She raised her eyebrows at Takeru and he quickly shrugged and gestured to Tami. Hikari sighed and placed the backpack on the floor next to the couch.

"I probably should have called before I came, but I had a feeling that you wouldn't talk to me if I did. What's going on? Is Taichi okay?" Hikari rubbed her forehead absently and nodded. Tami moved from in front of Takeru to go over and wrap her arms around her aunt's legs.

"He'll eventually be completely fine unless there are complications... or at least that is what the doctors said anyway. It's likely that he has sustained brain damage, but they are confident that it is something he will be able to completely recover from with time," Hikari sounded tireder than Takeru felt and he wished that he could do something to make everything better. Tami seemed to tighten her grip on Hikari's legs.

Yamato looked a little awkward standing in the middle of the living room. He put his hands into his pockets, not wanting his brother to see how much the news had hurt him. When he had seen the little girl he had hoped that Taichi had been at the apartment too. He really hoped that Taichi would recover quickly. He looked at Takeru, Tami and Hikari again and realised that he was in the way. He couldn't do anything for them at that moment, but he wanted them to know that he would do everything he could to help.

"I know that you are busy now, but if you need help with anything, just let me know," he turned to leave, understanding that this was what the family needed for now. He stopped as Takeru's hand landed on his shoulder.

"Thank you," the younger brother whispered, his eyes shining with the emotions he had been trying to hold back all night, "We'll let you know if anything changes." Yamato nodded before letting himself out. He felt useless, but he knew that he was doing all he could for now. Now he just had to wait for them to call and pray that Taichi made it through whatever had happened...

To be continued...

Litanya: Hey, sorry for the shortness and lateness of this chapter but it's been really hot over here and that makes it hard to concentrate. I was going to add a little more to this chapter before I put it up, but it's set to be over 40 degrees Celsius down here in Melbourne for at least the next three or four days so I probably won't be able to concentrate then either. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this really short chapter and I'll try to update as soon as it cools down a little (I have no air conditioning or fans or anything in my house... so it might be a while...).


	4. Chapter 4

Litanya: Hi again. I'm sorry for the slow update, but as you may know things down here in Victoria are hectic at the moment due to the horrific bush fires. I live in the "bush" and the fires have come within 15kms of my house, so I've been a little preoccupied. But so far my family and my house is okay, but there are still fires burning and a community fifteen minutes away from my house has been put on alert, so who knows what will happen. Hopefully the fires will stop soon, but even as I look out of my window right now, I can see a large area of smoke rising up in the hills...

My heart goes out to anyone affected by the fires, no matter how. It has been a very tragic time. Please donate if you are able to, to help the thousands of people who have lost everything.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and/or read this fic. It means a lot to me that people like it =).

This chapter is again dedicated to Steph, because I really don't know what I'd have done without her.

_**Untitled**_

_**Chapter 4**_

"_Daddy, daddy, look, look! The sign over there has funny squiggles on it!" Taichi hid a smile as his daughter referred to kanji as squiggles. Tami was used to reading English words, and although she spoke fluent Japanese (well, fluent if you didn't count the English she sometimes slipped into her speech) but she had never been taught to read kanji. Taichi had never really believed that she would ever need to._

"_Those squiggles are words Tami. In Japan they write things differently to in Australia," he explained patiently, his eyes firmly on the road ahead. Tami was strapped into her child's seat in the back seat. Soon she would be old enough to ride without a special seat, but Taichi couldn't stand the thought of anything ever happening to her, so he was overly cautious with her safety._

"_They have McDonalds over here!" she squealed excitedly. She couldn't read the name of the restaurant as it was in kanji, but she recognised the symbol. Taichi inwardly groaned. Tami had had an obsession with McDonalds for just over a year. He had hoped that she would think that the restaurant didn't exist in Japan, at least for a little while. She really needed to eat healthier..._

It all went black after that. He wasn't really sure what had happened, but judging by the way his head felt like it had exploded, he assumed that it was something bad. As his senses slowly started to return to him, he realised that he could smell antiseptic and some other smell that he couldn't identify, but knew only existed in hospitals. He was in a hospital. The thought sunk in slowly, his head hurting too much to be efficient. Him being in the hospital meant that he was injured. If he was injured, that meant that there was a great chance that Tami was also injured, and if she wasn't injured, then that meant that she was alone somewhere, probably needing him to wake up.

With that thought in mind, he tried to open his eyes. His left eye stuck a little bit, but opened easily enough. His right eye was a little more stubborn, and only really opened halfway without him putting in more effort.

His effort was rewarded as he found himself staring at a plain white wall. He wanted to turn his head, but from what he could tell, there was some sort of machine or equipment attached to his skull, and he didn't really want to pull it out if it was important. There was sunlight coming in through the window, so he assumed that it was morning.

'_Then again,'_ he reasoned with himself '_It could be afternoon... or it could be the morning of a day that is weeks away from whatever happened to me.'_ It seemed obvious to him now that he had a head injury, and he knew that he could possibly have been unconscious for days.

"Oh hello, it's good to see you're awake. I'll go grab the doctor," a cheery voice chirped from his left, where the door to his room was. The nurse who had spoken was already gone before he could ask her anything. That was more than slightly frustrating. He needed to know where Tami was and if she was okay. She was his priority.

"Good morning, I'm Dr. Ito and I'll be in charge of your care for the duration of your stay here. Now, firstly, would you be able to tell me your name?" Taichi didn't really want to tell him his name- he thought that the entire exercise was pointless as the doctor probably already knew it- but he supposed that it would help them determine if anything was wrong with him.

"T...chi..." he inwardly panicked as he realised that he couldn't actually say his name properly. He had been able to say his name since he had been two years old. What was wrong with him that he couldn't say a name he had said for twenty three years? It felt as though his mouth was uncoordinated. It seemed to move out of sync with his voice chords, turning the rest of his name into unintelligible babble. He must have looked panicked because the doctor put a hand on his shoulder, as if to reassure him.

"Maybe I should have explained your injuries first," Dr. Ito sounded a little irritated with himself, "You hit your head rather hard on the steering wheel during the accident. We believe that this caused swelling in your brain, which in turn has caused some damage to your brain. We believe that you may have a disorder called Broca's Aphasia, which is characterised by speaking difficulties and weakness down the right side of your body. This is probably why you are finding it difficult to speak." Taichi couldn't stop himself from panicking at what he heard.

"I can't... t-t... talk...right?" he inwardly winced at how long it took him to get that small sentence out. As he was speaking it had felt as though his mouth was struggling to move to form the words he wanted, and then sometimes it felt as though his voice just wasn't working. It was incredibly frustrating. Dr. Ito looked at him with something akin to pity, which annoyed him even further.

"Broca's Aphasia can be overcome- as in many patients have difficulties speaking and moving at first, but after a few weeks or months they learn to speak and move as they did before their brain injury occurred. You will need special support, but you will probably regain the skills you have lost. But we need to figure out firstly how severe your injury is. I know that this will be tough, but I'll need you to be as calm as possible whilst we do these tests so that we can figure out the level of therapy you will need. Is it alright if we commence the tests now? The sooner we finish the tests, the sooner we can start to help rehabilitate you," Taichi could only shrug helplessly. It didn't really matter what he said- or tried to say anyway- they would still do the tests.

"...Fine," he really didn't feel like exploring his new inability to form words, but he didn't have a choice.

"Alright," Dr. Ito said, before carefully reaching out to grab a hold of both of Taichi's hands. He held one of Taichi's hands in his left and another in his right, "Could you please squeeze my hands as hard as possible?" Taichi, relieved that his first test had nothing to do with speaking, promptly squeezed both hands as hard as he could. Dr. Ito winced and quickly released Taichi's left hand, but frowned at Taichi's right hand. Taichi himself was frowning at that hand too. Although he was trying his hardest to move his hand, it wasn't really responding. In fact, it had hardly moved at all, despite all the energy Taichi was putting into trying to move it.

"Why... not... working?" his frustration with the situation was now doubling. It was slowly becoming apparent to him that not only was he not able to speak properly, but now his movement was extremely impaired. When Dr. Ito performed a similar sort of test to test the strength of Taichi's legs, the same result occurred as with Taichi's hands- his right leg was simply not cooperating.

"You have suffered a serious injury. The area called Broca's area- the area of the brain that usually produces Broca's Aphasia when damaged- is right next to the area that controls the movements on the right side of the body. Thus most patients with Broca's Aphasia also show signs of weakness down their right hand sides. You seem to have significant damage to the area controlling your limbs. With physical therapy you should be able to regain the strength that you have lost in your limbs," Taichi was sure that Dr. Ito was trying to be reassuring, but he didn't really find anything the doctor had to say very comforting. Dr. Ito performed a series of tests after the physical strength tests, and these tests were aimed to find speech problems. Taichi found himself growing more and more frustrated as he failed to accurately describe the pictures that the doctor placed in front of him. The final straw came when Dr. Ito placed two pictures in front of him- one of a cow kicking a horse and the other of a horse kicking a cow.

"The cow kicked the horse. Can you point to the picture that describes the sentence I just said?" Taichi froze. He knew that this was supposed to be a simple exercise. He knew that a preschooler could probably answer this question and get it correct, or even a toddler. But he had no idea. In his mind, either of the pictures could probably describe the sentence. And really, what did it matter? Did it really matter that a cow or a horse was getting kicked? He didn't understand what this test was supposed to show.

"Don't," he was going to try to continue his sentence, but the struggle to say that one word had killed all of his enthusiasm to speak. What was the point of struggling to say a word they knew you were going to say anyway? Dr. Ito knew what he was going to say, so what was the point in trying to say it? The doctor, noticing his frustration, wisely put the pictures away.

"All right that's all for now. I'll go over your tests with some specialists and they will come visit you once they have a good idea of what your situation is. I know that it is hard, but I highly recommend that you try to speak as much as possible. The more you speak, the easier it will become. But a speech therapist will come by later to give you some advice. I'll go speak to the specialists. Try to get some rest. Visiting hours start in an hour, and I know that you have some family that is eager to see you awake," he was about to leave the room but Taichi stopped him by holding up his left hand.

"Wait... daughter... okay?" Taichi couldn't believe he had forgotten to ask about Tami. Dr. Ito frowned for a moment before realising what he was asking.

"Oh yes. She was released the night of the accident. You strapped her into her seat properly, and so she only had minor injuries from the crash. I believe she is staying with your sister. They'll be very pleased to see that you're awake. They have been very anxious these past few days," Taichi sighed in relief before interpreting the last sentence.

"F...F-Few days?" he was very proud of the fact that although it took a while to form the first word, the second word wasn't too far behind.

"Oh, yes I forgot. Your accident was the day before yesterday. We were expecting you to regain consciousness yesterday, but the brain is a mysterious organ and we were wrong. But your family will be very pleased to see you awake. They should be here within an hour," and with that Dr. Ito left Taichi to ponder on what he had just said.

He had been unconscious for over twenty-four hours. That meant that Tami had been without her father for at least a day. Taichi could not recall the accident, so he had no idea what time of day it had occurred in. He shuddered at the thought of her being without him for days. Tami was usually okay being without her father if she was in the presence of family friends or other people she knew. But if she was in a position where she didn't know anyone, then she would withdraw into herself. Taichi had only really ever seen that happen a couple of times and he had managed to talk her around both of those times.

Tami knew Hikari and Takeru, but Taichi feared that she didn't know them well enough. Also the trauma of the situation could have gotten to her and she might have withdrawn into herself for protection. Anything could have happened, and he had not been there. He felt horrible about it all. He needed to know that Tami was alright. He trusted his sister with his life and more, but she didn't know Tami's habits and her personality as well as he did. Hikari was good with kids, so that worked in her favour, but... he just worried.

He sighed and closed his eyes, hoping that his daughter and family would hurry up and visit.

* * *

Tami was quiet as they approached the hospital, and Hikari had to admit that she was a little worried. When they had arrived at the hospital the day before, Tami had been jumping around excitedly, happy that she was about to see her dad. But Taichi had not woken up yet. They had been allowed to sit in his room for a little while, but because Tami was so young the nurses didn't want her to stay. They knew how traumatised young kids could get just by seeing their parents hooked up to all sorts of machines.

Tami had been in the room with Taichi for around ten minutes, and during that time she had barely moved. Her eyes had gone wide when she had seen the machines, and for the duration of the time she had been in the room, she had sat quietly on the edge of the bed, holding her dad's hand. She had been quiet for the rest of the day too, and hadn't eaten much. Hikari was hoping that today's visit would go much better.

"Hi guys. My name is Tatsuki and I'm Taichi's nurse for the day. Before you go in to visit him, there are a few things that I have to tell you. The first thing is that he woke up this morning and I think that he should still be awake as I know he really wanted to talk to you guys. Now, although he is awake he is having difficulties speaking. He may omit words in his speech and he probably won't speak in whole sentences. It could also take him a while to finish the words that he is saying. Due to muscle weakness due to his injury, his speech also sounds a little different- a bit more like he's mumbling I imagine. Our advice to the families of patients with Broca's Aphasia is to be patient. If he's having trouble finding a word, or if he skips a word, please don't fill the words in aloud, or verbally help him find the word. It's best to just let him finish speaking and answer him as though he has said everything correctly. If he says something and you don't understand, don't stress, just ask him to repeat it. He's probably going to be feeling very frustrated with his speech and also with his movements. From the notes Dr. Ito has given us, it seems as though Taichi has severe weakness in his right side, which is restricting his movement. So it would be best to pass him things to his left side if you need to. If you have any questions, just let me know. I've worked on the neurological ward for ten years now, and this isn't the first case of Broca's that I have seen. It is pretty rare, but with time the symptoms will fade and it is quite possible that he will return to his old self within a few months. Do you have any questions?" Hikari was amazed that the nurse managed to find time to breathe during her speech.

"Is it alright if Tami stays with him for a while? I think that she's struggling with being away from him for this long with these circumstances," Takeru asked, and Hikari was glad he had thought to, because all she could think about was seeing her brother. Tatsuki hesitated for a second.

"It should be fine, but just watch her reaction. If she seems distressed or overwhelmed by it all, just let us know and we'll come and get her, or you can bring her out. It's always difficult with young children because it can be stressful to them both if we let them stay with their injured parent or if we keep them away from them. We have no problem letting her stay as long as she is alright," Tami, sensing that she was being discussed, wiggled slightly in Hikari's arms.

"Can we go see Daddy now? I want to see him," she pleaded, sticking her lower lip out. Hikari nodded.

"We can, but your Daddy is hurt so we have to be really careful not to hurt him. He is awake so he can talk to us, but he might not talk right. If he talks wrong, just smile and pretend that he didn't okay? Answer all his questions, but wait for him to finish them before you do, okay?" Tami looked confused, but she nodded anyway.

"Alright," she said, a hint of impatience in her tone, "So can we see him now?" Takeru chuckled softly and patted her head.

"Okay Tam-Tam, we can go in now. Just remember to be careful okay?" the little girl nodded and squirmed so that Hikari would put her down. She skipped over to the door she knew led to her father's room and opened it. Takeru only just managed to catch up to her as she hurried into the room, eager to see her father awake.

"Daddy!" Tami exclaimed happily, albeit a little quieter than she probably normally would, "Are you awake?" Hikari walked cautiously into the room, the nurse's instructions still running through her mind. When she saw her brother, his eyes were open and he was smiling- or at least attempting to- at his daughter. The right side of his mouth didn't move, but the left side was curled up into his usual grin. It had been so long since Hikari had seen any variation of her brother's infamous grin that seeing it made her almost want to laugh with relief.

"Hey... T-T... Tami... You... okay?" Hikari's urge to laugh immediately disappeared. Her brother's struggle to speak was hard to watch. It was obvious that he was annoyed at himself for being unable to speak properly. Tami stared at her father for a second before tilting her head to the side.

"Aunty 'Kari and Uncle 'Keru are making me eat vegetables and go to sleep at bedtime," she announced in a serious voice, "And Frankie has been having nightmares coz he misses you and he wants you to be okay." Hikari and Takeru exchanged puzzled glances. Who was Frankie? As far as they knew, Tami hadn't ever mentioned a Frankie to them at all. But Taichi seemed to understand what she was going on about. He seemed to hesitate before reaching out for his daughter with his left arm. It took her a moment to realise that his hesitation had actually been his attempt to reach out to Tami with his right arm.

"I...have...talk...them," Taichi tried not to wince as he recognised the almost incomprehensible sentence, "Vegetables...important. Frankie... not... worry. I'm okay." Tami again considered the words before smiling.

"I told him he was being silly, but he wouldn't listen. He's been hiding in my bag because he was too scared to come out. I told him Aunty 'Kari and Uncle 'Keru were nice, but he wanted you. But I'm sure he'll come out when I tell him you're okay. Maybe he'll come visit with us next time!" Tami carefully climbed up onto the bed on Taichi's left side, making sure she didn't touch any of the machines. Taichi moved slowly- it was his strong side, but he was still feeling extremely exhausted from the accident and he didn't want to dislodge any machinery. Tami now sat on the edge of his bed, and his arm was around her shoulders, hugging her to his side. Hikari wished she had a camera because they looked so content lying there together.

"Sounds... nice. I like... Frankie," Tami beamed at her father's comment and Takeru almost let his jaw drop. Tami had smiled before in their presence and she had a very nice smile, but that paled in comparison to her grin. Like her father she had an unforgettable grin. There was no doubt in his mind that whenever she gave that grin, she was truly happy.

"Sorry but who is Frankie? I don't think that I've met him," Hikari couldn't stop herself from asking. Both Taichi and Tami jumped a little at her voice and she couldn't help but think that they had forgotten she was there.

"Frankie is the bestest! He's awesome and purple and he goes everywhere with me!" Hikari blinked. Taichi laughed at her expression.

"Teddy...bear," he gasped out between his laughs.

"Ah. I was thinking that there was a purple kid running around somewhere," she said, laughing with the father-daughter team.

"That would be so cool! I wish that Frankie talked... I mean he talks to me, but he is too shy to talk to everyone else, even Daddy! Well, he sometimes talks to Daddy, like when he wants me to eat vegetables or go to sleep or when he wants me to colour with him sometimes, but other than that he doesn't talk to him and I think that that is really stupid because I love talking to Daddy and coz Frankie is my bestest friend in the whole wide world then he should love talking to Daddy too, right? But he's too shy and so he's so quiet unless he's talking to me. Isn't that right Daddy?" Taichi smiled and ruffled her hair lightly, causing her to make a face.

"Right," he agreed, the word rolling from his mouth quickly without too much trouble, "He likes you eating... fruits." Tami nodded eagerly and continued the conversation with her father enthusiastically. Hikari and Takeru found themselves too moved to talk.

Takeru had never seen this side of Taichi before. Sure, he had seen Taichi's overprotective side when Hikari had started dating, but that had been more frightening than anything. Taichi had scared off all of the suitors he had deemed 'unsuitable' for his little sister, and even when he had deemed Takeru 'acceptable', there had still been a look in his eyes that warned Takeru to not do anything to hurt Hikari. (Not that Takeru ever would, but Taichi was seriously overprotective of her and didn't want to take chances, so he had made sure to instil fear into anyone who attempted to court Hikari, even if he approved of them... just in case.)

That overprotective streak Taichi had was a lot different to his normal out-going approach to life that he had had for most of the time Takeru had known him. He had dropped that carefree attitude a little just before he moved away from Japan, but for the most part Taichi had accepted everyone for who they were and what they did. He was protective of his friends, sure, but never to the extent he was with Hikari.

But when Taichi was with Tami, it just seemed... peaceful. Takeru didn't really know how to describe it, but they just looked... right together. Taichi was patient with her, listening and paying attention as she chatted happily, and she was patient and waited for him to finish speaking before she would answer him. It was as if they knew exactly what each other needed, and had vowed somewhere to do whatever the other needed. Takeru was awed by how close they were.

Hikari had seen this side of Taichi before, but it had been a little different. Taichi had always been the best older brother a girl could ask for whilst they had been growing up. Okay, he had made a few mistakes- like taking her outside once when she was very sick with the flu- but he had always tried to keep her happy and she had adored him for as long as she could remember. He would tell her stories to help her sleep, play games with her during the day and give her help whenever she needed it. As they grew older he was always there to give her advice and listen when she had needed to talk.

His relationship with Tami appeared to be similar to the one they had shared during childhood, but with important differences. Of course she couldn't see all of the differences now, but it was obvious that they existed. They had a closer bond of course- a father/daughter bond was a lot stronger than the bond shared between siblings. And as Taichi was the only one Tami had to depend on, that made them even closer. Hikari could tell, as Tami had brightened up so much once she had come into Taichi's presence that it was almost unbelievable.

She wished so much that she had brought a camera to record these moments. But instead she only had her memory to rely on. She looked down as Takeru grabbed her hand and entwined their fingers together. She leant her head on his shoulder and together they settled down to watch the small family try to heal each other...

To be continued...

Litanya: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I know that it's a bit repetitive but I tend to do that at times. The fires are much better here today than they were when I started writing this chapter (it's been a work in progress for the past few days). There is still smoke everywhere (and I mean literally everywhere) but the fires are mostly contained... or so they say. Hopefully they are fully contained soon. Anyway, please drop a review if you want and I hope you enjoyed reading. Thank you for reading and have a good day/night =).


	5. Chapter 5

Litanya: Hi again. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I'm glad that so many people like this fic. Sorry for the late update... I don't really have an excuse. All I can say is that I have started uni again, so my updates will probably get even slower (or faster... sometimes I end up updating instead of doing my work...). I'm really sorry about the delays, but I am having problems with some of the characters... I know what I want to happen but I don't know how to get them there. Anyway, I don't own Digimon and I hope you enjoy this chapter =).

_**Untitled**_

_**Chapter Five**_

Mimi lifted the cookies out of the oven and set them down on the heat-proof mat on the bench to cool. She then slid a tray full of unbaked cookies into the oven and set the timer.

"Uh Mimi... no offense but I think that you have enough cookies," Koushiro remarked as he watched her from the kitchen doorway. The kitchen table was covered with boxes of cookies, and there were even a few boxes in the corner. Mimi sighed and pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear absently.

"I know, I know... I can't help it! I always cook when I'm worried, you know that," she picked up a cookie and took a bite without really thinking about it. It had been two days since Jyou had bumped into Hikari and Takeru at the hospital and since then they had not heard anything from the young couple. That worried her because she knew that they would probably need help and yet they weren't asking.

"Maybe we can drop some of the cookies off at Hikari's," Jyou suggested as he took a cookie. Mimi beamed at his idea, and she privately wished that she had thought of it.

"Visiting hours are over now, right?" she asked her husband.

"Yeah they are. Taichi was pretty badly hurt in the accident, so the nurses are keeping a close eye on him too. Hikari and Takeru should be back home now," Jyou felt a little guilty for trying to manipulate Mimi into visiting the young couple, but he felt as though he was facing a moral dilemma. He had yet to tell Mimi about Tami. He didn't know whether or not he was meant to or not. He hated keeping secrets from her but... he didn't really know how Hikari would react if she found out that Jyou had told Mimi about Tami directly.

"Hikari must be stressed out. Cookies could cheer her up," Koushiro added his opinion to the discussion, "And it would show her that we are here to help. I don't really know how she is dealing with the situation, but she probably could use some help." Mimi was already grabbing one of the boxes of cookies that she had kept in the corner with one hand, and grabbing her bag with the other.

"Yeah we should go and help them out. We shouldn't just let them think that they have to be alone."

* * *

Tamika was bored. She loved playing with her aunt and uncle, but at the moment they were engaged in a serious conversation in the kitchen, so she was left to play in the living room. Normally she would have been happy playing with Frankie, but she had left her teddy with her dad, to make him feel better. Her other toys weren't enough to hold her interest tonight.

"...I can always offer to work the night shift," she overheard Uncle 'Keru say as she drifted closer to the kitchen door, "that way you can get to work during the day whilst I stay with Tami, then when you finish work you and Tami can visit Taichi and I'll go to work." Tamika frowned at the sound of his voice. It sounded off somehow... she knew that it wasn't sad, but it still didn't sound right.

"Are you sure you'll be able to do that? Those night shifts kill you... and if you have to watch Tami during the day you'll never get to sleep. Maybe I can talk to my boss and see if she'll let me have every second day off or something. It's a pretty reasonable request so maybe..." Tamika didn't know why, but Aunty 'Kari didn't sound right either. She recognised that their voices sounded the same as her father's when he was told that he had to work extra hours. She had never liked that tone of voice.

She was distracted from listening by a knock on the door. Her aunt and uncle were still talking and it appeared that neither of them had heard the knock, so she went to investigate. She was too short to look through the hole in the door to see who it was, so she dragged a chair over to the door and stood on it so she could see. She smiled happily when she recognised one of the people standing on the other side of the door.

"Uncle Jyou!" she cried before jumping carefully off the chair. She forgot about the chair as soon as she had jumped, so she banged the door into it when she opened the door, but she didn't really care. She loved visitors. "Uncle Jyou! Did you come to visit? Who are the other people? Are they family too? I saw Daddy today and we had a tea party with Frankie, and it was fun. Did you know that Daddy talks funny now? But we aren't supposed to tell him coz if we do then he may feel sad about it." She flung herself into his arms, and he picked her up a little clumsily. He had a bit of a shocked expression on his face and she giggled.

His two companions were watching them curiously. Tamika stared back at them. She decided that the lady looked nice and that she was very pretty with her chestnut brown hair and soft brown eyes. She was dressed prettily too, which Tamika approved of. The man with them looked a bit quiet. He seemed to be less sure of how to act than the other two, a little more hunched in on himself. But he smiled at her after a moment and she couldn't stop beaming back at him.

Hikari and Takeru heard the commotion and came out of the kitchen. Mimi couldn't help but notice how tense they were. Tamika seemed to pick up on it too, as she wormed herself out of Jyou's grip and raced over to them.

"Look who came to visit Aunty 'Kari! Uncle Jyou is here! And he brought some other people!" she grabbed Hikari's hands and danced around in a little circle, "Is that Aunty Mimi and Uncle 'Shiro? Daddy said that they was friends with Uncle Jyou and that Aunty Mimi was a pretty lady and that Uncle 'Shiro was very shy and that they both hung around with Uncle Jyou a lot and since they all came here together then I think that they are them. Am I right, am I right?" Hikari couldn't help but smile at her hyperactive niece. The girl was too adorable for her own good.

"Yeah Tam-Tam, you're right. You have a really good memory," Takeru replied, unsure of what was really going on.

"Oh I'm sorry Takeru. She just let us in when we knocked... I think that she checked first to see who we were and I guess when she saw Jyou she just assumed that she could let us in," Koushiro finally shook himself out of the daze he had fallen into when he had seen Tamika. Hikari sighed.

"It's alright. She's just like her father- too impulsive for her own good. Didn't your Dad tell you not to open the door to strangers?" Tami stopped dancing around and nodded enthusiastically.

"Yep! He told me to always look at who is knocking and if you don't know them then to turn them away, but I saw Uncle Jyou and I know him so I opened the door," Tamika explained all this as though she was lecturing them instead of the other way around, "Daddy also told me that if it is a stranger I should run and get him because it could be someone trying to steal me and he doesn't want me to get stolen coz then he would have to try to replace me and I'm ire-irreplacababale." She looked so proud that she remembered what her dad had told her. Hikari wished again that she could get the camera, but knew that she couldn't.

"Umm..." they all looked at Mimi, who appeared to be struggling to understand what was going on. She had expected to hear that Taichi was injured, but she was unprepared to deal with what appeared to be his daughter appearing in front of her. She hadn't known that he had a daughter- not that she really knew anything about his life these days.

"Oh... this is my niece, Tamika. Tami, this is your Aunt Mimi and Uncle Koushiro. As you can probably figure out, Tami is Taichi's daughter," Hikari said quietly, watching for any negative reactions. Koushiro just nodded a greeting to the little girl, whilst Mimi still stared at her in shock.

"It's nice to meet you," Tami said politely, seeming to realise that if she ran up to Mimi she would probably knock her over, "What's in the box?" Mimi blinked before looking down to the box of cookies that she was holding.

"I kind of made chocolate chip cookies... If it's okay with Hikari, you can have one if you would like one," Mimi's voice shook a little, but she was slowly getting over her surprise. Tami immediately turned to her biological aunt and bounced up and down.

"Ooh can I have one? Pretty, pretty please? Daddy says that Aunty Mimi makes the best cookies!" Mimi was amazed at that last comment. She was surprised that Taichi remembered her cookies, and that he had taken the time to tell his daughter about it. He had only tasted her cookies once and the memory of that day never failed to bring a smile to Mimi's face

_~Flashback~_

_Seventeen year old Mimi Tachikawa was sitting on the edge of the pond at Odaiba Park. It was a beautiful day and the park was full of young kids playing soccer and other games that involved running around. Mimi envied them. They all looked so carefree. She wished that she could be like that._

_She was having a bad day. Firstly she had been yelled at by her parents for missing what they deemed to be an 'important' breakfast with one of her father's clients, and then she had had a fight with Jyou and Koushiro over something stupid. Now both of her best friends weren't speaking to her and her parents weren't very happy with her either. She wished that she could just be as free as a young child was._

"_Hi Mimi, how's it going?" she looked up from the concrete to see Taichi standing next to her. He was looking at her curiously, as though he knew that something wasn't right with her and he was trying to figure out what it was without asking. Well, she wasn't going to tell him anyway. She could deal with it herself._

"_Hey Taichi," she mumbled, before inwardly cringing at how pathetic she sounded. Taichi didn't comment on it, which relieved her._

"_Do you want to come over and make cookies? I kind of promised Hikari that I'd bake some cookies for her class whilst she worked on a project with Takeru, but I'm not very good in the kitchen. Do you want to help? You can have some of the cookies," she hesitated. She didn't really want to go, but if Taichi needed help then she couldn't really refuse._

"_Uh... alright... I guess that I can come and help," she stood slowly and concentrated on looking everywhere but at Taichi. She didn't want him to guess what was wrong from her face. She knew that he was good at things like that and she really didn't want him to know._

"_Thank you," he told her as they started to walk towards his apartment, "I know you probably have a lot to do and I appreciate your help." She smiled and gave a little nod, but she didn't say anything. _

_She knew that she wasn't acting like her usual self, but she just wasn't feeling like her usual self. Her usual self would never have fought with Jyou over something so petty. It hadn't helped at all that Koushiro had taken Jyou's side of the argument. So what if she hadn't been very nice to Jyou's lab partner? The girl was obviously flirting with him so that he would do her work for her. Mimi wasn't against Jyou dating (although she sometimes wished that he would ask her out instead) but she only wanted the best for him. His lab partner definitely wasn't the best._

_They arrived at the Kamiya apartment and Taichi quickly let them in and led the way to the kitchen._

"_We have the ingredients in here somewhere," Taichi assured her as he haphazardly searched through the cupboards, pulling out random ingredients as he went, "Would you like a drink? We have tea, coffee and juice."_

"_Um... maybe some water?" he looked up at her when he heard her hesitate, a small frown crossing his features before his grin returned so quickly she thought she might have imagined it._

"_We have that too. I'll get you a glass," he got her a glass of water and soon Mimi had started on the cookies. She had determined pretty quickly that Taichi was hopeless at baking (either that or he was faking it very well) so she poured all of her attention on making the cookies and keeping Taichi away from anything that could make a mess. She was covered in flour and in a much better mood by the time the cookies were laid out ready to go into the oven._

"_Hey Taichi," she said slowly as he put the tray into the oven._

"_Yeah?" he said as she hesitated over whether or not she should finish her question._

"_How did you feel when Sora started going out with Yama?" she had wanted to know the answer to this question for ages. She had two reasons: firstly she was convinced that Taichi may have cared more about Sora than just friends should, although she had never said anything about that to anyone. Secondly, she wanted to know if she was right to feel jealous as a friend that Jyou wanted to start going out with new people._

_Her suspicions about Taichi's feelings appeared true as he froze on the spot at her question. A multitude of expressions crossed his face in about a second's time, but Mimi swore that he was panicking a little._

"_What do you mean?" his voice sounded a little strange, and when he closed the oven door, it slammed a little harder than was necessary. She had really unsettled him._

"_Well, I just thought that it would be weird for you. I mean, they are your best friends and it must be a little weird at least," she decided to let him off the hook and not let him know that she knew how he felt. He considered her words for a moment, visibly relaxing. It was like he had an automatic response for this question._

"_Yeah, it is a little weird but as you said, they're my best friends," he turned to look at her looking a bit more serious than usual, "You know Mimi, Jyou's not going to stay single forever, but as his best friend it is your duty to support him in any decision he makes. He really cares about you, you know. If you told him honestly how you feel, I'm sure that you'd be surprised by his response." She mulled over what he had said whilst the cookies baked. Taichi kept a conversation going, but she only answered with half her mind. She was only pulled out of her musings when the oven beeped._

"_Alright! I bet that these are going to taste fantastic. You really seemed to enjoy making them and that always means that they'll taste good," Taichi seemed like a five year old boy as he put the cookies on the bench. He immediately tried to grab one before pulling his hand back quickly as it burned his hand. Mimi laughed._

"_You know, it was kind of obvious that that was going to happen. Things that have been put in burning hot places become burning hot themselves," Taichi's mature reply was to poke his tongue out at her. Half an hour later, when the cookies were finally cool enough to eat, Taichi made sure that she had the first try._

"_These are really, really good! The best cookies I have ever tasted!" Taichi exclaimed after devouring his cookie in about two bites, "You should become a cook. You obviously like it and you're obviously good at it. Just give Jyou some of these and he'll never want to look at another girl!" Mimi blushed and continued to nibble at her cookie. She wasn't really very hungry, but she had to admit that it was good._

_The whole afternoon had been great. Taichi had really managed to get rid of her horrible mood and she felt like she could handle the tough period that was bound to come up in her friendship with Jyou. She left the Kamiya apartment that afternoon with a small box of cookies, flour all through her hair and the resolve to be the best friend she could possibly be to everyone, just like Taichi was._

_~End of Flashback~_

Mimi snapped out of her daze as Hikari confirmed that Tamika was allowed a cookie if she promised to be really good.

"Yummy! Thank you Aunty Mimi. Aunty 'Kari, can we take some cookies for Daddy when we go see him tomorrow? If he knows that they're from Aunty Mimi he'll be really happy and Frankie can have some too!" Tami was getting crumbs all over the floor as she danced around excitedly. Mimi wished she had the energy that the little girl seemed to have- she was quite sure that she would have collapsed with exhaustion by now if she had been using half the energy Tamika seemed to use effortlessly.

"Yeah of course we can," Takeru scooped Tamika up so that she would stop dropping crumbs on the floor. They fell onto his shoulder instead.

"How is Taichi going?" Jyou asked, "I didn't really know whether to drop in on him or not so I thought that I'd ask." Takeru exchanged a quick glance with Hikari before taking Tamika out of the room, muttering something along the lines of 'bath time'. Hikari gestured to the couch and they all took a seat. Hikari perched on the arm of the armchair and fiddled with her fingers.

"Taichi's... Well, he's doing alright. He has a pretty severe case of Broca's aphasia. The speech difficulties are frustrating him to no end, but I think it's the weakness on his right side that is worse for him. He's always been such a physical person and now he can barely move his arm and leg. It annoys him that he can't write either, because if he thinks we do not understand him correctly, he can't even write it down for us to read. In short, he's pretty miserable about it all, but in true Taichi fashion he's pretending that it isn't bothering him. He's good at that," it was obvious that Taichi was not the only one frustrated with the situation. Hikari looked like she was about to burst.

"Yeah I noticed. He did that with the whole Sora thing too. But you know, he's not the only one in your family who likes to deal with things themselves without asking for help. We're your friends you know, and it hurts when you don't ask us for help when you need it," Mimi said as gently as she could, knowing that she could be very blunt at times.

"You knew about the Sora thing? When did you find out?" Hikari seemed to disregard the latter and most important part of what Mimi had said which irritated the older girl to no end.

"I had my suspicions for a while, but I found out for sure when I helped him make those cookies. He never told me, but I could tell by his reaction to something I said," Mimi admitted.

"You came over and made cookies? I don't remember that," Hikari said distractedly. It seemed that she was deep in thought over some other matter.

"I don't really know when you needed them for, but Taichi said that you needed him to bake cookies for your class or something," Hikari sighed.

"I never asked him to bake cookies for me, although he does make good ones. You must have been upset about something so he was trying to cheer you up. He did that a lot too," the two boys were looking really confused as Mimi let this information sink in. She inwardly winced as she realised that Taichi had done a lot to try to make her feel better, whilst she had never offered any advice to him.

"What is this Sora thing you're talking about?" Koushiro asked, finally giving up the idea that they would offer the information. Hikari sighed again and rubbed a hand over her eyes. She looked a little as though she hadn't slept for a few nights. The sad thing was that that was probably true.

"My brother was... well, let's just say that he cared about Sora more than he should have. He was really very upset when she started dating Yama," something seemed to click in Koushiro's mind, and Mimi was sure that she heard him mutter "so that was it" under his breath. But she had to concentrate on her main objective- to help Hikari.

"I meant what I said when I told you that we're here for you," she told the younger girl seriously, "If you need help with anything at all- housework, babysitting, _anything_, just ask. Koushiro and I have time off work, and Jyou can help out at the hospital and we are always free to talk or do anything you need us to. I'm worried that you'll stress yourself to the point of collapse and you don't need to. So tell us what you need help with and we'll do it, alright?" at Mimi's words, Hikari started to cry. She didn't know why, she was just so overwhelmed with everything that she had to do and Mimi's offer was just so nice.

Mimi, Jyou and Koushiro didn't look surprised by her tears. Mimi came over and gave her a hug, whilst Jyou and Koushiro hung around a little nervously at the back, like most men do when women cry.

"Thank you so much for the offer. I'm sorry for not letting you guys know about everything earlier and I've just been worrying about Taichi and Tami and I haven't been able to think straight. I might need you to help babysit a few times if that's alright... I can't get much more time off work and neither can Takeru and it's really hard to find time to visit Taichi and look after Tami and... I'm sorry I don't know where all this is coming from..." it felt so good to just let the words pour out of her mouth. Hikari was normally a pretty quiet person, but she just couldn't help but let the words come out. She was tired and she was worried about her brother and it was such a relief that there were people other than Takeru (who she loved to death but who was just as stressed and tired as she was) who cared about her.

"That's fine Hikari. This is what we're here for," Mimi told her softly. Whilst Hikari was happy, grateful and relieved that her friends were there for her, she was kind of disappointed. Maybe if her friends had been as concerned about Taichi years ago as they were for her now, none of this would have happened in the first place...

To be continued...

Litanya: Whoa that took me a long time. I am seriously sorry for the long delay. I am going to try to update at least once a month from now on, but I'm going to be extremely busy with uni work (I already need to read about 100 more pages than I have already read and I've only been back at uni for 3 days...) but this fic will be a priority for me outside of uni work. Anyway, I hope you guys all enjoyed the chapter and I'll hopefully update again soon. Have a good day/night etc.!


	6. Chapter 6

Litanya: Hey, sorry for the long wait between chapters but uni is killing me. I'm sorry again that it has been so long.

Anyway thank you for being so patient. I'd also like to thank everyone who put this fic as one of their favourites- I feel honoured that so many of you like this fic. I'm sorry again for the long wait. I'll try to update faster, but I can't promise anything.

Oh, and as a side note, I am a neuropsychology student. As I'm still studying, I keep on learning new things that are relevant to Traumatic Brain Injuries, so I keep on tossing them into this fic. So if something about Taichi's behaviour is inconsistent with other chapters, it'll be because I learnt something new in class.

This chapter is dedicated again to Steph, as well as to everyone who is enjoying this fic =)

_**Untitled**_

_**Chapter Six**_

Taichi inwardly cursed for what seemed to be the millionth time that day- and it was only nine a.m. He would have cursed aloud as Tami wasn't present, but he was still having difficulty forming words and in the time it took to get that one curse word out, he could have thought a million others. So he cursed inwardly and tried to pretend that everything was alright on the outside- his usual routine.

The reason behind his irritable mood that morning was simple- he still had no idea why he and Tami were in Japan. He had been told by a doctor- he had seen so many of them since he had awoken that he didn't know who was who anymore- that having retrograde amnesia was normal after a traumatic brain injury. In other words, it was normal to lose memories from up to a year before the accident occurred, if there had been significant trauma to the brain. He was told that he would have flashes of memories that had occurred during the time portion he had lost, and that eventually he would probably remember everything except for possibly the actual accident and a small portion of the time he had spent recovering.

Taichi remembered his entire life up until a month before the accident. He remembered being in Australia and looking after Tami and working and his Australian friends... but he could not for the life of him remember why he was back in Japan. It was seriously annoying him. He knew that he could ask Tami to see if she knew anything, but he didn't want to scare her. He was trying very hard to make sure that she and Hikari knew nothing about his memory loss. They were already so worried about the functions they knew he had lost and he didn't want to add to their worry. But he was going crazy not knowing. He knew that he had something important that he was supposed to do, but without his memories, he couldn't even start it. That made him curse. He hated being unreliable.

"Hey Taichi," he turned to the door at the familiar voice and was surprised to see his first non-medical and non-family visitor. It was actually quite refreshing to see an unexpected face.

"Melissa?" it had taken a little while to say, but he knew that she understood. She crossed the room and gave him a hug, being careful to avoid the IV line still attached to his arm. He had forgotten what the IV was for.

"How're you feeling?" she asked him before perching on the edge of the bed. He shrugged- or at least tried to considering his right arm was still unresponsive most of the time- and focussed his gaze towards the window.

"Fine," he had found that one word answers were the best because he couldn't screw up the grammar. Melissa gave him a small smile.

"I'll bet," she said sarcastically, "I mean, you're stuck in hospital, practically unable to move, you're having trouble speaking, and if Emma and Steph are right about their neurology stuff- and it is highly likely that they are considering one's a doctor and the other is a neuropsychologist- then that means you are probably finding it difficult to orient yourself in time." Taichi blinked at her little explosion, and he found himself wondering how she had managed to breathe during that sentence. He wished that he could get his words out that fluently.

"...not...know...mean" he sighed as he realised that his sentence was pretty much unintelligible. Surprisingly, Melissa seemed to know what he meant. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, if you are so intent on denying that you are having memory problems, what did I ask you during my last visit here, after the accident?" She had dropped by the hospital on the day of the accident. She hadn't been able to see him of course- it was family only, and he was still unconscious besides that- but she hadn't really expected to see him. No, she had visited more to get access to his medical records, so that she could relay all of the details to her medical friends back in Australia. But of course, if Taichi was having memory problems and didn't want her to know, he would panic and assume that she had visited him when he was awake, and that they had had a conversation.

"T-Tami... ark... there.... no... Ask ah... where is... she," he really hated talking and this answer was especially hard, because he had no idea what Melissa had said if or when she had ever visited him here. He just figured that if he said a general question, he had a better chance of being right. Melissa had watched him struggle speaking and he had recognised a flash of pity cross her face before he finished speaking. He looked away from her, settling his eyes on the wall across from his bed. He didn't want to see her pity him- he had had enough of people feeling sorry for him during his life and he didn't want to see any more.

"I visited the day you were still unconscious," he was glad to hear that she sounded normal, "I didn't get to see you at all. I did manage to get them to send your file over to Steph though. Look I know that you hate worrying people, but you should probably let them know about this memory thing. You might find that it could help you to recover your memories faster." In fact, she had no idea if that could happen, but she knew that Taichi was stressing way too much over this memory problem, and Emma had once explained to her the effects of too much stress on the brain. It would not help his memory problems if he continued to worry about it.

"No... troubles," he insisted stubbornly, although he did at least look a little guilty, almost as if he knew that he had been caught out.

"Taichi Kamiya I have known you now for seven years. You may think that you can get away with lying to me, but I'm telling you now that that you're wrong, okay? I know that you haven't exactly had the best of luck in your life, but that doesn't mean that you have to deal with everything by yourself. I'm not going to panic and break down if you say anything that may be an admission of weakness and I will help you in whatever way I can. It is not an annoyance- in fact it annoys me more when you refused to tell me something important like this. Friends don't keep secrets, remember?" he bowed his head and stared at the bed sheets, feeling horrible. No matter how hard he tried, he found it incredibly hard to open up to people. He hated admitting weaknesses, or things he perceived as being weaknesses, and he had trouble whenever anyone caught him out, because he just didn't know how to answer them.

"'Kay... m-maybe some... problems," he admitted after a couple of moments. He felt his left hand curl into a fist. He sounded so pathetic and useless and he hated it. He should have been home with Tami, making sure that she was alright, instead of being curled up in a hospital bed feeling sorry for himself. It sucked how bad things always seemed to happen to him.

"When does your memory disappear?" Melissa asked him in a soft voice, noticing his change in mood.

"Month ago," she nodded thoughtfully.

"I'm guessing you can't remember why you're in Japan then," she said slowly, recalling a conversation she had had with Steph a week before the accident. Taichi slowly shook his head, so she continued, "Steph told me that you had said something about you needed to move back to Japan for work. But she had noticed that you were calling Hikari more, and you seemed a bit upset that you had missed their engagement. She thinks that you wanted to move back here to be with your sister and that the job was just an excuse you were using it to justify your decision to move back home."

Taichi had to admit that a lot of that sounded right. Steph was always a good judge of people. A thought suddenly popped into his head and he vocalised it without thinking.

"Catherine." The name hung in the air of the room uncomfortably for a moment. Catherine had been Taichi's fiancée. She was a French exchange student, doing her undergraduate degree at the University of Melbourne, which is where Taichi was studying at the time. She was also Tami's mother. She and Taichi had hit it off straight away and they had had a fun, easy relationship. They had become engaged two years after Tami was born, but before they had been able to marry, Catherine had become very ill and was diagnosed with cancer. They had pushed away all thoughts of marriage to put her health first, but she had died just before Tami's fourth birthday. He still missed her.

"You wanted to escape the memories," Melissa whispered as she thought it all out, "And there's no place like home to dispel bad memories."

"Bad... recollections...everywhere," he said sadly, thinking about the reasons why he had left Japan in the first place. Melissa had nothing she could say to that. She was about to try to cheer him up when there was a loud knock on the door. She had left the door half-closed when she had entered the room.

"You can come in," she called through the door, knowing that Taichi wasn't really feeling up to saying it. The door swung open slowly to reveal a rather confused looking Yamato.

"Am I in the right room?" she heard him mutter under his breath as he saw her. She sighed. She had never really gotten around to telling anyone that she was friends with Taichi. It had partly been because Taichi had asked her not to, but it was mainly because she was unable to understand why Taichi's Japanese friends had treated him the way they had. She loved Yamato, but she had to admit that she was a bit bitter over the way Taichi had been hurt by him.

"Yama," Taichi should have known that this sort of thing would come. He wasn't an idiot. Hikari had told him many times that Jyou worked at this hospital, and he knew that Jyou would probably mention something to the others. He was surprised that Yamato was the first one to gather up the courage to visit him.

"Taichi," Yamato was shocked to see that Taichi didn't look all that much different from when he had last seen him seven years ago. He looked a little older, yes, but he looked a lot more like his nineteen year old self than Yamato was expecting. Then again, he really didn't know what he had been expecting. He knew that he hadn't anticipated that Melissa would be there though, "Mel... do you know Taichi?" It finally clicked in his brain that Melissa came from Australia, and although he hadn't known much about Taichi's life, he knew what country he had been in.

"Taichi and I are old friends. He went to uni with a high school friend of mine, and so I saw him around a lot before I moved here. He was actually the one who told me that Odaiba was the best part of Japan," she stood from the end of the bed and grabbed her bag, which had fallen to the floor, "Anyway, I'll let you two talk. Yama give me a call when you're ready to leave, okay? And Taichi remember what I said. You know how to reach me if you need my help with anything." And with that she left the room.

"I'm sorry for just visiting with no warning," Yamato said suddenly after a couple minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"It's 'kay... She...talk...too much...anyway," Yama smiled a bit at that and leant back against the wall next to the door. He was really nervous about this visit. He had debated about whether or not he should talk to Taichi for days, until he had finally had enough. He had decided that he had nothing to lose- the way things stood he had no contact with his former best friend anyway. If he screwed this up, practically nothing would change anyway.

"Hikari is glad that you're home... although she wishes that the circumstances were different of course," Taichi was glad that Yamato hadn't seemed to have changed too much in the way that he expressed his emotions. By using Hikari as an example, Yamato was telling him in his own way that he had missed him when he was gone. If Taichi was honest, he had missed his best friend too.

"Good be...Japan," he found himself agreeing, although he looked out the window, away from Yamato as he said this. It was true. Now that he was back in Japan, despite being in hospital, he felt a sort of peace within himself that he hadn't really ever felt when he had been in Australia. He had loved Australia, but there is nothing like the feeling of being at home, even if home was a place that contained memories he'd rather forget.

"I met your daughter the other day. She's really cute and quite...hyper," Yamato knew that he was jumping topics, but he couldn't really get his thoughts straight. There were so many things that he wanted to say, but he couldn't find a logical order for them all, so he was just blurting out whatever came out first, "I was planning on dropping in on Hikari and Takeru to tell them that I was there to help if they needed it, and then Tami just seemed to appear out of thin air." Taichi smiled as he thought of how his daughter would have greeted him. If she had recognised him then she was sure to have been quite excited. Taichi had always had lots of fond stories to tell her about his friends from school, even if the said friends didn't think he would. Contrary to popular belief (or at least contrary to Hikari's beliefs) Taichi had not left Japan because of his friends. There had been much more to it than that.

"She...love...sport. Spend... outside...soccer," he had once been told (jokingly) by friends that he could talk about his daughter for days without stopping and he desperately wished that he had that ability back. He wanted Yamato to know about Tami- he wanted him to know about pretty much everything. But he couldn't tell him for two reasons. The first was because he was frustrated with his speech and couldn't imagine trying to struggle through the telling of his story at this stage.

The second thing that stopped him was his (admittedly irrational) fear of opening himself up to others. Catherine had been the only person he had willingly and easily opened up to in the past seven years. Whilst he had eventually opened up to his other Australian friends, he only did so when he was questioned. Back before _it_ had happened during high school, Taichi had opened up to Sora, Yamato and Hikari. But after _it_ had happened, he had found it almost impossible to do so. _It_ had killed his faith in other people, and even though he was trying very hard to let people in, he found it next to impossible.

"I should have known you'd have taught her to play soccer already," Yamato smiled as he recalled some of his fonder memories of watching Taichi and Sora's soccer games, "I missed watching you play soccer."

Taichi knew that that was the closest thing Yamato could ever bring himself to say "I missed you". Suddenly the uncomfortable atmosphere that had settled in the room with Yamato's arrival seemed to disappear. Taichi knew that he wouldn't be best friends with Yamato overnight, but he hoped that with time, he could explain everything that had happened...

To be continued...

Litanya: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm so sorry again for the delay- I seriously had this chapter open on my computer from about a week after I posted the last one, but whenever I had the time to write, I didn't know what to write. As it is I really should be studying now, but I am just so sick of it so I wrote this instead. I really hope the next chapter won't take this long to write. Hope you enjoyed it and leave a review if you want =).


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